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The Rev. Robert H. Schuller has been a spiritual counselor to this country's leaders, a friend to celebrities, an inspiring figure to the common person.

He started a church with an investment of $500 and turned it into a worldwide institution: the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove. His sermons were viewed by millions on his "Hour of Power" television show. Now, after decades of service and leadership, he finds himself in court fighting the very church he created.

The trial starts Thursday.

Schuller and his wife, Arvella, seek more than $5 million. Meanwhile, the outcome of the trial will affect creditors who have been waiting to be paid since the Crystal Cathedral Ministries filed for bankruptcy in 2010.

"We're just hoping that it's soon over, so we can just move on," said John Charles, chief executive officer of the Crystal Cathedral Ministries. "It's been painful for both sides."

Carol Milner, a Schuller daughter who, along with her husband, Tim, also has claims in the trial scheduled in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, said: "This is really grieving us. We don't pursue conflict. We believe in reconciliation."

The elder Schullers filed a number of claims for breach of contract and copyright infringements. The largest claim seeks damages for the rejection of an agreement between them and the ministry written before Schuller left his post as senior pastor in 2005.

In that agreement, the church agreed to provide for the elder Schullers until their deaths. It included annual payments of $119,000 for housing, $20,065 for insurance and $198,000 to Schuller's corporation, Robert Harold Inc. Both Schullers are in their 80s.

PAYMENTS DECLINE, STOP

Starting in late 2008, as the ministry faced an economic downturn and a decline in donations, the Schullers were paid less. When the ministry filed for bankruptcy, all payments stopped. And in the reorganization plan, the agreement with the Schullers was rejected.

Payments also stopped to Carol and Tim Milner. Carol Milner was employed for $10,000 a month to do work related to her father's intellectual property. Tim Milner worked as an independent contractor on various services, including fundraising and arranging Schuller's speaking engagements. Their claims total approximately $272,000, according to court documents.

The elder Schullers have been criticized for using their power and influence over the years to give themselves and their children generous salaries, housing allowances and other benefits, even after the church began to struggle financially.

Carol Milner disputes the idea that her parents and siblings are wealthy or took advantage of the church.

"People have said the big, bad Schullers took all this money, but in reality we were running a $60 million organization. And we gave it our all," she said.

"My parents did not become wealthy as the result of the church," she said.

Addressing criticism from some congregants that her parents were driven by a limousine, she said it was a company car donated by a congregant. Like any busy executive, her father used that time to conduct business, she said.

The limousine service was available to the elder Schullers until this past spring, when cathedral leaders were told it went against court orders, Charles said.

FAMILY STRUGGLES

Some of the Schuller children have said this past year has been tough on them. Carol Milner and her husband sold their home in Orange this week and are looking to sell their home in Colorado to raise funds. Both were fired from their jobs at the cathedral in spring 2011.

Sheila Schuller Coleman, the cathedral's senior pastor until this past March, said she has been substitute teaching and tutoring while her husband, Jim Coleman, has been looking for a new job since he was fired from his role at the cathedral. They are trying to sell their home in Orange and downsize.

Whether all of the elder Schullers' claims are heard in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles will be up to Judge Robert Kwan. Attorneys representing the creditors have argued that the Schullers failed to file evidence by the deadlines set by the court.

The trial has delayed payments to vendors such as Bruce Johnson, a dry cleaner who worked on the "Glory of Christmas" show since 1981.

"I feel sorry for all the churchgoers who gave them so much money, property and services," he said.

Meanwhile, attorneys for the Schullers argue that the ministry's founder for decades waived royalties on the sale or gifting of his books to contributors. He wrote more than 30 books, some of them New York Times best-sellers. After he officially stepped down as senior pastor, his fundraising efforts generated $20 million in donations, according to his attorney.

PROMINENT PASTOR

Schuller is not "merely a garden variety pastor, like thousands of others across the country," attorney Carl Grumer wrote in court documents.

He is one of the country's most prominent ministers – someone who has dined with world leaders and whose spiritual counsel was sought by politicians, entertainers and public figures, such as Presidents Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford and Larry Flynt, founder of Hustler magazine.

When President Clinton invited him to breakfast at the White House in 1997, Schuller shared his favorite verse from the Book of Isaiah. That evening, Clinton used the verse in his State of the Union address "and publicly thanked me for providing it to him," Schuller wrote in a court declaration filed Oct. 7.

After meeting with Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev, Schuller wrote that he became the first Western minister to preach in a live broadcast on government-sponsored television.

He was invited to the White House by both President George H.W. Bush and years later his son, George W. Bush. He served on the official delegation to the funeral of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Mother Teresa was a personal friend. So were John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Lucille Ball and other well-known figures. And the list goes on.

RIGHTS TO BOOKS, TAPES

Part of the dispute revolves around the books, television tapes and other material considered intellectual property and the question of who should benefit from it.

"For decades, both my wife and I were quite generous in allowing (Crystal Cathedral Ministries) to use our intellectual property," Schuller wrote in a court declaration last month. "However, at some point, the Ministry started to exploit our intellectual property on the Internet, in ways that I had never contemplated."

Schuller wrote that he and his wife do not have access to the Internet and did not understand it.

In a deposition taken last February, Schuller was asked whether the ministry had ever offered his materials over the Internet. "No, I don't know. I don't know a darn thing about the Internet. Am I on it? Am I on it?"

Charles said the bookstore at the cathedral campus has closed, and Schuller's books are no longer available on the campus.

"We agree they belong to him," Charles said. "We don't offer anything of his for sale. We don't quote him or use any of his material. We don't show his image on TV or any Internet pages."

The old "Hour of Power" tapes, however, are still with the ministry, Charles said.

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